The present invention is related generally to latching systems for enclosure doors, and is more particularly related to an improved multiple latch system for use with single door or multi-door enclosures.
Conventional enclosures have heretofore utilized various multiple latch systems to secure the doors thereof into tightly sealed relation therewith. Such systems often include a central door latch which has connected thereto one or more elongated extension rods that extend toward opposite upper and lower ends of the door. Such extension rods are usually designed to engage strikes which are mounted on the enclosure to cause the top and bottom ends of the door to be drawn against the enclosure in sealed relation therewith.
Although such systems have been somewhat effective in latching the door to the enclosure, leakage problems are prevalent due to the mounting of the strikes upon enclosure. Mounting of the strikes commonly involves piercing the body of the enclosure which creates a passageway for air leakage into the sealed interior thereof. Leakage problems also occur due to the fact that the enclosure door is only secured at the very top, bottom and middle of the door. For larger doors, the space between latching points increases and thus the potential for leakage therebetween increases.
Other multiple latch systems utilize a plurality of rotating latch members which are mounted to the door and fixedly interconnected to cause simultaneous rotation and latching of the door to the enclosure. Such latching systems generally include an elongated latch bar which is fixedly secured to each latching member in order to drive same. Such systems require numerous additional parts for inter-connecting such latch members, and require tedious and cumbersome labor during assembly thereof. For the foregoing reasons, such systems have proved to be impractical and costly. Moreover, such multiple latch systems usually involve mounting of each separate rotating latch assembly to the door via a bolt which penetrates the door and creates potential undesirable leakage points into the sealed interior of the enclosure.
It is evident from the above that it would be desirable to provide a multiple point latching system for enclosure doors which can accommodate any number of desired latches and can be easily assembled with minimal parts and labor, so as to reduce the effective cost and required repairs thereof. Such a system must accomplish the above while also being carefully constructed to avoid penetrating the enclosure body with the various necessary parts of the latch system, to avoid potential leakage paths into the sealed interior thereof.
The present invention solves each of the above problems found to be inherent in conventional door latching systems. Numerous advantages are gained through the use of the new latch system disclosed and claimed herein, which will become more apparent from the following disclosure thereof.